This invention relates to automated transfer systems and apparatus for precisely and automatically moving desired objects such as workpieces from one station to another, for progressive manufacturing operations such as the step-by-step metal-forming procedure known as "transfer die" sets or stations, by which raw material such as sheet metal stock is progressively shaped into a desired configuration by passing through a number of stamping or pressing stations that each impart a change of shape leading from the original unworked stock to the final desired configuration. In a broader sense, the invention relates to a program-controlled computer-directed transfer system for the automated transfer of essentially any given workpiece or other article from one station to another along a predetermined sequence thereof, by picking up each such article, moving it to the next successive station, depositing it at that station and leaving it there for a predetermined length of time, followed by a desired number of successive such steps leading progressively from a first to a last such station.